Foxford enriching lives
OUR involvement with Nateete Muslim Primary School, in Kampala, Uganda began in 2010 when we were paired with them as part of the Africa Inspires project to raise funds to provide a clean water supply to the school.
We maintained our ties with Nateete after 2010 and before this summer had visited three more times. This summer’s visit was our biggest group yet – 10 students and four staff travelled to Uganda for the 10-day stay.
Our arrival at Nateete was overwhelming, with hundreds of students turning up on a Saturday to welcome us. During our week at the school our students taught lessons in maths, English, ICT, dance, PE and art, sometimes teaching up to 60 students in a class!
Teaching in Uganda is based on rote learning, so the students really appreciated our creative and active lessons. They also organised a sports day at the end of the week. The group had taken with them gifts, including sports kit, books and writing materials and organised a number of projects to improve the life of the students and teachers – chairs were provided for the library, built by the local carpenter, a new driveway was created and a new ceiling built in the staff quarters, paid for by retired staff from Foxford School.
It was a humbling experience for our students to see the poverty and difficulties people face in their daily life, a fact reinforced to us by a visit to a slum in Cefovid, which has links to the Two Tone Village in Coventry.
Every one of the students involved in this visit has been affected by the things they saw and the experiences they had, which is informing their life now. One of our students said: “I saw a quote on a wall in the school – a man cannot change the wind but he can adjust his sail, this is what I have brought back with me.”
One of the things all the students, and staff, brought back with them is the knowledge that, in spite of great poverty, hardship and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, education can help empower generations and give hope for a better future. We cannot wait for our next visit to Nateete in 2019. The before and after of a Foxford venture to create a log cabin
In January 2016 students in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 started a project to build a log cabin using only recycled materials.
The students carried out the building work with support from members of staff and the YMCA. The vision for the cabin was to provide an outdoor classroom, the use of which would expand and develop over time.
We now have a project worker from Ego Arts Venture, based in Coventry City centre, working with our students on Fridays helping us to realise our vision for this exciting space.
We are aiming to create a Foxford nature park – an environment to encourage wildlife where there will be seating areas strategically placed so students and staff can appreciate all there is on our doorstep. We will have a pathway leading deeper into the community gardens, making sympathetic use of the woodland in order to make a more pleasurable walk. New fencing will be built around the pond, which will be dredged. We will also be creating a Foxford allotment, growing seasonal fruits and vegetables.
This is an exciting venture for us, it will give our students a new and different perspective to their education and, as it has been built and will be developed by them, it is truly a whole school initiative very much owned and driven by students.